摘要: |
The soil layers under existing road and railway embankments need to be studied, for example, in order to estimate the bank stability, to analyze the possibility of changing or increasing the load, changing the geometry or to comply with new regulations. The properties of cohesive soils (such as shear strength, deformation properties, water content and permeability) have changed after the bank was built. The changes depend mainly on initial properties and structure of the soil layers, the size and distribution of the load, time since the embankment was built and other changes in the soil such as groundwater levels. Traditional geotechnical investigations require access to the ground at the investigation point and, since no interruption in the railway traffic can normally be accepted, these investigations are confined to the area outside the embankment or using indirect methods like geophysical methods. The project aims to develop a new methodology to estimate the changes in soil properties for cohesive soils under existing road and railway embankments as well as a methodology to verify the anticipated changes. The methodologies are developed based on empirical evidence, previously conducted full-scale tests and laboratory experiments, collecting and analyzing measurements made below existing embankments and new supplementary measurements in the field and laboratory. Such methods shall take into account differences in soil characteristics in horizontal and vertical direction. |